John is alone on this world and has not seen a single soul in a long time. His only companions have been the ghosts only he can hear. Driven by guilt, he goes from town to town, searching and doing the only thing he can do:

Give the dead their final rest.

Discord once gave him a gift. It was given in grief. John has yet to understand what this gift means. He has lost track of time and madness and sanity wage a constant war in his mind.

For John, the greatest terror in his heart is facing the Goddesses.

He's about to meet one of them.

Night and day. Fire and ice. Creation and destruction. Everything has an opposite, and Chaos is no exception. Princess Celestia tells Twilight the true history of Discord's rise, the Alicorns' fall, and the creation of the Elements of Harmony.

She tells her student the story of Order and Chaos.

With his dark past heavy on his mind, Sombra is put to the test as he begins a reformation process. Though his thoughts are clearer and no longer crowded with the influence of dark magic, his heart is none the lighter. Will Pinkie's motto of "Giggle at the Ghosties" be enough to turn a tyrant good? Or Will Sombra succumb to the power of dark magic once more? But more importantly, will the reason for his tyrannical rule finally come to light?

Inspired by a series of one shots and the very popular "Feeling Pinkie Mean", though with a more serious undertone.

Warning: comments section on the last chapter contain some spoilers.

"All my life, I've wanted to fly
But I don't have the wings, and I wonder why
I can't break away..."
Most pegasi figure out flying easily enough. Heck, most of them figure out how to do it before they even get their cutie marks.

But not me. I couldn’t do it, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t even hover. Not for more than a few seconds, anyway. And not even Rainbow Dash, the greatest flier in Equestria, could seem to help me. We tried everything, and I failed every time. Day after day, I tried – and day after day, I failed, until finally I was ready to just give up. I’d never be able to do it. Nopony would ever be able to help me to fly...

...until one day, somepony did.